Hope For Shannon
by Callie Forrester
Summary: Seth and Summer have been married for 12 years and have six kids. Life seems almost perfect until something devastating happens to one of their children.
1. A Morning Like Any Other

**Author's Note: **This fanfiction is set when Seth and Summer are about 32 years old. They have been married for 12 years and have six kids. That's really about all you need to know...I hope you like it, but I wouldn't expect too much...this is my first fanfiction that I've decided to put online. Reviews are always appreciated, whether you have something good or bad to tell me. Also, this chapter is kind of just leading into the story, so hopefully even though this chapter's kind of bland, the next few with be more entertaining. Okay, that's it. Thanks for taking the time to read and hopefully review!

**Disclaimer:**I own nothing but new characters and places...so for the first chapter that includes basically just the six kids, Stephanie, and the two family dogs.

**Chapter One**

"Uh…Mom?" a voice called from the bottom of the stairs. Silence followed for a few moments until the voice called up the stairs again. "Oh, no…MOM! MOM! MOM! MOM, come here!"

Summer Cohen, lying peacefully in her bed, finally heard the voice calling her. She sat up so quickly that she accidentally kicked one of the family dogs, a golden retriever named Chessie. Chessie jumped off the bed and shot Summer a dirty look, if that was possible.

Summer jumped out of the bed and rushed past the annoyed dog. "What? What's wrong?" she called back worriedly as she headed down the hall and to the staircase. As she hurried down the stairs, she could see three of her six kids waiting for her at the bottom.

As Summer reached the last step of the staircase, her 8-year-old daughter, Courtney Cohen finally answered her. "Riley's eating potato chips out of the bag again," Courtney said worriedly. Summer sighed. Riley, another one of the family's dogs, had been known to have an enormous stomach. Another thing about Riley's stomach? It was infamously known for how delicate of a stomach it was _as well as_ enormous.

"Okay," Summer said, launching into what she called the 'I-Can-Handle-Anything-And-Everything-Because-I'm-A-Mom' mode, "which one of you was eating potato chips for breakfast?" Summer asked this as she headed into the kitchen, where she found her border collie, Riley, with his paws up on the counter and his whole head in a bag of potato chips. She grabbed his collar with one hand and the bag of potato chips with the other. She pulled the dog gently, but firmly down to the ground. "Bad, Riley, very bad," Summer said scolding the dog while she secretly prayed that he wouldn't barf all that greasy food up today. Summer threw the chips out and turned to the sink to wash her hands. As she shoved her hands under the running water, she repeated herself, "Which one of you was eating potato chips for breakfast?"

Summer waited patiently for a reply, but only heard a guilty silence in the kitchen. "Should I take that to mean all of you?" she asked.

"Well," 7-year-old Kaylie Cohen started, "it was all _Jake's_ idea."

"Was not!" 5-year-old Jake Cohen yelled at his sister.

"Was too!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was NOT!"

"OK!" Summer said throwing her hands up into the air. "Stop that, right now. You all know better than to eat potato chips for breakfast, so do me a favor and don't do it anymore." Summer looked each of the three guilty brunette kids in the eye. "Now, since you've all had your breakfast, go wake up Shannon and Emily while I get Ben. Then, while I'm feeding them, I want all of you to go get dressed. I laid clothes out for you on your beds."

"Okay, Mommy," Kaylie replied. Her siblings nodded to show they were planning on being obedient and then the three left the kitchen together. As they thundered up the staircase, Summer put on a pot of coffee and headed upstairs to wake up her husband.

Summer opened the door to her bedroom and shut it quietly behind her. Seth was still sound asleep—he could sleep through any noise—and while Summer hated to wake him, she knew if she didn't soon Seth would definitely miss his flight. He was going on yet another business trip. While Summer hated him being away all the time, she knew it was necessary to keep their family and house running. She also knew that he loved his job and wouldn't love another job the way he loved this one.

Summer crawled into the bed and curled up beside Seth. She kissed his nose, then his cheek, and then moved to his lips. Finally, she heard him murmur, "Goooood morning, Sum."

"Good morning to you, too, sleepyhead," Summer whispered.

Seth rolled closer to her and wrapped his arms around her. Summer sighed; she hated the mornings when he left. They always made her feel so alone and abandoned. At her age, she felt that she was too old to be feeling like this, but she couldn't help it. It was how she felt when Seth left her. Even if it was just for a business trip.

Summer heard Seth chuckle. "Oh, Summer," he said to her.

Summer felt herself getting defensive. "'Oh, Summer,' what?" she asked, pulling away from him.

"It's only three nights, babe," Seth reminded her softly. "I've been gone a lot longer than that before."

"I know," Summer relented even though she was still feeling a need to be stubborn and difficult. "It just never gets any easier, I guess…I just like having you home, with us, that's all."

"Well, I love being home with you all," Seth answered sincerely. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. "You'll be fine…I bet you won't even miss me," Seth joked.

"I'll take that bet," Summer said softly.

"Come on," Seth said as he nudged Summer, "let's go see what all our rascals are up to." Summer laughed at the word 'rascals' and followed him out of their bedroom.

They found their 11-year-old daughter Shannon kneeling by a hallway closet, rummaging through a bunch of shoes. "Mom," Shannon said, sighing in relief, "where are my dance shoes? I can't find my tap or ballet shoes…and I can't be late for my first day of dance camp!"

"Your dance shoes? Um, try under your bed…I don't think they are in the closet…" Summer said mulling this over in her head. Dance shoes. Shannon's dance shoes. Shannon's black tap shoes and pink ballet shoes. Nothing was coming to mind. "Check your room and I'll look in the downstairs closet."

"Okay," Shannon said sighing. She turned and continued down the hall to her room.

Summer turned and smiled at Seth. "Can you please get Ben out of his crib? Steph should be here any moment, so she can feed him and dress him and change him and everything, but can you just wake him up and bring him downstairs?" Summer asked. The 'Steph' she referred to was their part-time nanny, Stephanie Rowns. She was in her early fifties and didn't have any children of her own. She had always wanted kids and adored the fact that the Cohens had such a large family.

"Of course, sweetie," Seth said kissing Summer's forehead before he walked away to Ben's room.

Summer went half way down the staircase before she remembered where Shannon's shoes were. Summer had just thrown out Shannon's old dance shoes the other day because they getting a little worn and old. Then Summer had gone out and bought Shannon new dance shoes. Summer had hidden the shoes under her bed in their boxes because they were supposed to be a surprise for Shannon for getting such great grades this past school year.

Summer hurried up to her bedroom and pulled the shoes out from under the bed. She carried the two boxes downstairs and put them on the table by Shannon's place mat. Summer then walked back to the staircase. "Kids, come down for breakfast!" she shouted up the stairs. Five seconds later, five brunette kids came thundering down the stairs and into the kitchen.

As the five kids sat down at their places, swapping cereals, pouring each other different juices, and sharing chopped fruits, Seth came into the kitchen with their youngest child, 2-year-old Ben, in his arms. Seth placed Ben in his high chair and announced to the kids, "Okay, it's time for Daddy to leave for his business trip." As their tradition went, Seth said good-bye to the kids first, from youngest to oldest, and then Summer. He bent down and kissed Ben's cheek. "Bye, Benny. Be good for your mother, and don't spit up too much on Steph."

"Don't jinx it, Daddy," 4-year-old Emily warned in her grown-up voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't dare, Em," he said coming over to her and offering his arms to her. She jumped in them and threw her arms around her neck. She squeezed her arms tight and said, "I love you, Daddy."

"Oh, I love you, too, Em," Seth told her as he put her down and moved over to Jake. "Okay, Jay, be good, okay? Help your mommy out whenever you can because the six of you are a handful, okay?" Seth smiled at Jake.

"Okay, I can do that," Jake said thoughtfully.

"My turn!" Kaylie yelled excitedly as Jake and Seth ended their good-bye hug.

"Yes, sweet pea, it's your turn," Seth said to Kaylie. He had barely offered out his arms to her when she jumped into them. "I love you, Daddy!" Kaylie said, sounding just as loving and happy as Emily had moments ago.

"Ditto, kiddo," Seth said as Kaylie sat down back at the table. He turned to Courtney. "Court," he said as he bent to kiss her cheek. "Let's see…same old stuff…I'll miss you, be good, you know the drill…" he said teasingly.

"Yup," Courtney replied as Seth leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

"And last but not least of the kids…Shannon," Seth said smiling at her. "OK, Shan," he whispered as he kneeled down by her side, "you take care of your mom and make sure she's not working too hard, okay? Make sure the girls do everything they're supposed to and that the boys behave, alright?"

Shannon rolled her eyes. "You know everything's gonna be fine," Shannon whispered back at him. Seth gave her a pleading look and Shannon finally gave in. "Okay, Dad, I'll watch everyone," she promised, still whispering.

"That's my girl," Seth told her. He hugged and kissed her good-bye and then went over to Summer. "Walk me to the car?" he asked, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively at her.

"Oh, you know, if I have to," she said pretending to be irritated. "Kids, keep eating, I'll be right back and then we'll do all the camp drop offs." When the kids all nodded or replied with a 'yes', Summer followed Seth out to the garage. "Okay," Summer said trying to gather all her thoughts, "good luck with the new show." That was the first thing to say—good luck with the job. Seth was a producer and writer at a major television network. He did a lot of traveling because of production launches and searches for perfect 'on location' sets.

"Thanks. I'll be back in three days, okay?" Seth told her.

"Yeah, I know," Summer said. She smiled sadly at him.

Seth leaned over and put his arms around her waist. He kissed her, and ran his hands through her hair repeatedly. "I'll miss you," he murmured huskily to her.

"Yeah, I'll miss you, too," Summer replied heavily.

Seth pulled away slowly, placed his lips on her forehead, and kissed her. "I'll be back before you know it," Seth told her watching her face. "I love you," he told her.

"I love you, too," Summer replied. They hugged quickly before Seth opened the car door and climbed in. As he pulled away, he waved and blew one last kiss at Summer before he left her sight.

Summer walked back into the house and gathered up the kids. As they all piled into the car, Summer couldn't help but think about how busy their lives had become. Like at that precise moment, she was driving five of their six kids to their activities for the day. Shannon at dance camp, Courtney at horseback riding camp, Kaylie and Emily at the theater camp, and Jake at a sports camp. Ben was at home with Stephanie and, after Summer finished dropping off all the kids, she would be on her way to work. Summer was an actress, mostly known for her soap opera characters than anything else.

Shannon was the last to be dropped off. "Have a good day, honey," Summer said as Shannon gathered up her belongings. "Call Steph if you get out early and need a ride home," Summer told her.

"Okay," Shannon nodded. She put one hand on the door as if she were going to open the door, but paused suddenly. "Thanks for the shoes, Mom," Shannon said as she threw her arms around Summer and squeezed tightly for a moment.

"You're welcome, Shan," Summer said to her oldest daughter. She hugged her back until she caught a glimpse of the clock. "Ooh, I'm going to be late…okay, if I don't hear from Steph that she picked you up early, I'll be back here at five thirty to get you, alright?" Summer asked.

"Yeah, okay," Shannon answered as she climbed out of the car. "Bye, Mom," she yelled over her shoulder as she quickly headed into the large dance studio. Summer watched her go into the building and pulled away as the glass door shut behind Shannon.


	2. A Night Unlike Any Other

**Author's Notes:** Thank you so much to all reviewers...to answer some questions...yes Ryan and Marissa are going to be in this, they do have kids, and believe it or not, they are going to be mostly happy...they will probably appear first in the next chapter, and gain more of a role in this story as it goes on. That's about it. This chapter is much more exciting than the first one, so I hope you all enjoy.Thank you to everyone who reads this chapterand a special thank you to anyone who reviews.It is always appreciated, and helps keep me going. Thanks.

**Chapter Two**

Later that day, Summer sat in the backyard, watching her children play. They had finished dinner about an hour ago, and after saying good-bye to Stephanie, they decided to go swimming. The three older girls were in the pool, splashing each other and playing water games, while Emily and Jake played on their swing set. Ben was in the playpen that was positioned next to Summer's white lawn chair.

Summer couldn't help but sigh. It was times like these where she really missed Seth. When the whole family was together, only missing one member…times like this one made her long for Seth in so many different ways. Summer let out one more sigh before telling herself that she had to stop feeling this way, that Seth would be back in just a few days.

Summer was so busy thinking about Seth that she didn't even see Emily come over to Summer's side. "Mommy?" Emily said quietly. Even though Emily had said 'Mommy' so quiet, it made Summer jump. "Sorry, Mommy," Emily said immediately when her mother jumped back.

"Oh, no, sweetie, I'm sorry…you startled me, I didn't see you there," Summer said reaching her arms out to pick up Emily. Emily climbed into Summer's arms and settled down on her mother's lap.

"Mommy?" Emily said again, this time in a whisper. She was staring down at her two tiny hands as she talked to her mother.

"Yes, honey?" Summer replied looking at her youngest daughter.

Emily looked up suddenly at Summer with her big brown eyes, filled with silent tears. "I miss him, too," she admitted as she wrapped her arms around her mother. Summer, shocked just a bit by the open honesty coming out of her 4-year-old's mouth, chose not to reply and to simply just hug Emily back.

* * *

"Okay, everyone, time to go to bed," Summer ordered. After the nighttime baths and snacks, after reading them their bedtime stories, Summer just wanted to go to sleep. She felt exhausted and she wasn't sure why; the day had not been any more strenuous or difficult than normal. 

Summer followed the four kids who were still awake upstairs to their rooms. After tucking in Jake and Kaylie, Summer popped her head quickly into the bedroom that Shannon and Courtney shared. Courtney, exhausted from the swimming and horseback riding that day, was already sound asleep in her bed. Shannon was sitting up in her bed, reading a chapter book. "Shannon, don't read too long, okay? You have to get up early again tomorrow, for camp," Summer warned. Shannon nodded, too enthralled with her book to actually look up and reply to Summer. Summer rolled her eyes, but accepted that nod as a good enough answer to her question. "Okay, goodnight, sweetie. I love you," Summer told her.

Shannon didn't reply and Summer just assumed Shannon hadn't hear her because she was so wrapped up in what she was reading. Summer closed Shannon's door softly and continued down the hall to her own bedroom. She climbed into her own bed, shut off the light, and tried to sleep.

Forty minutes later, she was still wide awake. She sat up, clearly frustrated, because after all, she was tired, but for whatever reason, she just couldn't fall asleep. She turned the lamp on her bedside table back on and pulled open the top drawer. There was a white notepad inside the drawer, with a number scrawled across the top. Seth always left a number where Summer could always reach him while he was away on business. She picked up the cordless phone and dialed the number.

Seth picked up on the second ring. "I was wondering when you'd call," Seth told her after they exchanged hellos. Seth asked about how the day went and how the kids were. The two talked for quite awhile until Seth finally said, "It's getting late, Sum. You should get some sleep."

"I know, but I can't sleep," Summer whined softly.

"Take one of the sleeping pills in the bathroom medicine cabinet, they work wonders…it'll knock you out," Seth told her.

"Okay, I will," Summer said. She was reluctantly realizing that their conversation was coming to an end.

"Sum?" Seth said. Summer didn't say anything, but Seth knew her silence meant she was listening. "I miss you." Summer felt herself completely lose it when he said that. Her eyes filled with tears, but she refused to let Seth know she was crying. She was so confused, she always missed Seth when he went away, but she never cried about it. Summer shrugged to herself, brushing this all off, thinking to herself, _Maybe I'm just getting my period or something, who knows…_

"Yeah, I miss you, too," Summer paused. "Alright, well, I'm going to go take that sleeping pill."

"Okay, good. Get some sleep. I love you, babe," Seth told her. Summer told him she loved him and then the two exchanged good-byes before hanging up. As Summer placed the phone back on the charger, she climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom.

Five minutes later, she was sound asleep with Chessie and Riley's warm bodies laying next to her in the bed.

* * *

Hours later, Shannon Cohen remained in her bedroom, sitting up in bed, reading her book. It was a mystery book and she was determined to finish the book before she went to bed. There were only about ten or so pages left in the book and so far the ending was great. 

As Shannon continued to read her book, she believed she was the only person still awake in the Cohen household. After all, Courtney was sleeping a mere three or four feet from where Shannon sat. She knew that most of her siblings were heavy sleepers and had probably been asleep since their mother had tucked them in. The house sounded still and quiet to her, which only made sense because it was two-thirty in the morning. For these reasons and more, 11-year-old Shannon Cohen was shocked to hear the sound of breaking glass downstairs while she finished the last page of her book.

She stood up quickly, letting her book hit the floor. She walked over to her bedroom door and opened it, just a few inches. She listened carefully, strained her ears to hear anything, any noise, from downstairs. After a few seconds, she wondered if she had imagined the sound of glass breaking because there was no noise now. Just silence in their dark house.

Glancing over her shoulder, Shannon found Courtney still sleeping silently in her bed, obviously undisturbed. Cautiously, Shannon opened her bedroom door all the way and walked into the hall. She leaned over the banister and saw only darkness at the bottom of the staircase. Although the fact that she didn't see anything moving around in the darkness downstairs should have comforted her, she suddenly had this eerie feeling that someone was watching her. _Okay, that's it, just go wake up Mom and then everything will be fine, _Shannon told herself.

As Shannon started to turn around on her heel, she didn't even see the grown man who hit her, only felt the hard wood of a baseball bat collide with the side of her head.

* * *

Thwack! Something hit the hard wood floors in the upstairs hallway hard. Whatever it was, it woke up Kaylie Cohen. 

Kaylie shot up in her bed. She jumped out of bed, wondering what the loud noise had been from. The only thing she heard now was the sound of barking dogs. As Kaylie crossed the room, she glanced across the room at her younger sister. Emily was still sleeping in her bed. She rolled her eyes. She was sure that if Emily had slept through the terrible noise, so had Jake, Courtney, and Ben. Those four made up the sound sleepers in the family. No matter what, nothing woke any of them up. Kaylie and Shannon were another story—anything, loud or quiet, could wake them up easily.

Kaylie reached for the doorknob and grasped it firmly. She took in a deep breath and tentatively pulled open her bedroom door. For a moment, she didn't see anything wrong or out of place in the hallway. Shortly, though, her eyes adjusted to the dark and she was shocked to see her big sister laying on the floor, blood stains all around her.

Kaylie was about to run to her mother for help when she noticed a man standing over Shannon's body. He was holding a knife in one hand and there was a wooden baseball bat lying at his feet. He checked Shannon's arm for a pulse and then pulled her into his arms. He looked up and saw Kaylie staring at him from behind her bedroom door, which was only opened a few inches. Kaylie shut the door quickly and quietly, and then fled to her own bed. She hopped under the covers and yanked them over her head, making sure her entire body was covered. She listened to the sound of footsteps going down the stairs and then someone moving around downstairs.

Kaylie waited until the house was silent again to peek out from under her blue sheets. Hearing only silence and seeing nothing out of the ordinary, she sat up cautiously. Still being greeted by only silence, Kaylie decided to run for it. She took a few deep breaths and then jumped off her bed. She threw her bedroom door open and ran to her mother's bedroom. Pushing open her mother's bedroom door, Chessie and Riley both ran past her, growling and barking madly.

Kaylie leaped onto her mother's bed. "Mom, Mom, MOM!" she screamed. It took Kaylie a good ten minutes to shake her mother, sedated by the sleeping pill, awake. When Summer finally did come to, she found herself wide awake and alert because of the terror on Kaylie's face.

"Mommy," Kaylie croaked. "Shannon's gone."

"Kaylie, what do you mean?" Summer said, pushing back the sheets and pulling herself out of bed. "Kaylie, what do you _mean_?" Summer repeated herself. Kaylie was scaring her mother; Summer had never seen Kaylie with such a look of fear on her face and in her eyes, not even from the worst of her childhood nightmares.

Kaylie started sobbing uncontrollably. "I don't know…he took her…she was just laying on the floor…she…she…Mommy, she wasn't moving," Kaylie said softly between heavy sobs.

Summer's eyes grew wide as she watched her little girl shake and sob in front of her. Summer placed both of her hands on the girl's arms and held on to her tightly. "Kaylie, what happened to her?" Summer asked desperately.

"I told you," Kaylie sobbed. "He took her. He carried her downstairs." Kaylie was shaking now as well as sobbing.

Summer, not completely sure of what to do, pushed past Kaylie and started into the hallway. She wasn't sure if she should even believe Kaylie…Summer decided she had to see the empty bed herself to know that Shannon was gone. Kaylie followed Summer closely down the hall to Shannon and Courtney's room. Summer found the bedroom door wide open, which told her immediately that something was wrong because all her children slept with their doors closed.

Summer threw herself into the room, flipping the lights on. Her eyes immediately hit Shannon's empty bed. Her lavender sheets were pulled back and her comforter on the floor. Summer dashed to Courtney's side, not completely sure why she was doing so. "Court," Summer said as she, almost violently, shook Courtney awake. "Courtney!"

Courtney sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What, Mom?" Courtney asked, shrinking back a little bit from her mother. Courtney couldn't place exactly what was going on, but she knew something had to be wrong. Her mother had this disbelieving look of anguish in her eyes. "Mom, what's wrong?" Courtney asked as she pulled her sheets up to her neck.

"Courtney, sweetie, where's Shannon? Do you know?" Summer asked desperately hoping that Courtney would roll her eyes and come up with a reasonable answer for that question. _Mom, she's in the bathroom,_ Summer pictured Courtney replying in her head. _Mom, she's reading downstairs on the couch_.

Courtney's head turned towards her sister's bed. Her eyes opened wide and for a few minutes, she just stared at the bed. Summer followed her daughter's gaze and then turned back to Courtney. Courtney turned her head and let her eyes met her mother's. "I…I don't…know," Courtney said slowly and rather softly. Summer frowned and jumped up. As she turned back towards the door, she saw Kaylie standing there. "I told you. A man came and took her," Kaylie repeated.

There was silence between Summer and her two girls for about a minute, but it seemed much longer to Summer. Suddenly, Kaylie's head snapped up. "Mommy," Kaylie said as if she was considering something for a moment. Kaylie nodded to herself and then said confidently, "He had a knife. And a bat."

Summer felt as though she had been sleep walking the whole time since Kaylie had awaken her from her sleep, as if she wasn't really living these past few minutes. When she heard the word 'knife' leave Kaylie's mouth, it snapped her back to her living reality. "Courtney," Summer commanded. "Get the phone for me and bring it downstairs." Summer hurried down the stairs, ignoring her daughters' questions, and ran around the first floor of her house, flipping all the lights on. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but she knew she'd know it when she it. One of the last few rooms to check was the family room, and when Summer rushed into the room and flipped the lights on, she screamed in utter disbelief at what she saw. A broken glass window, patio door wide open, and more than a few drops of blood on the creamy beige carpet were what she was looking for. It was real proof that something was indeed wrong.

"Mom?" Summer heard a voice behind her. Summer turned around to see Kaylie and Courtney standing behind her, Courtney with her arm stretched out and a cordless black phone in her hand while Kaylie's arms were wrapped around her own body as she looked around the devastating room timidly. "Here's the phone," Courtney mumbled.

Summer turned and took the black phone into her own two hands. Dialing 911, she lifted the phone to her ear. "911, what is your emergency?" the operator answered.

"My name is Summer Cohen. My eleven-year-old daughter, Shannon, was just kidnapped from her bedroom. A man broke into our house and took her. She's gone," Summer replied.


	3. Useless Questions

**Author's Note:** Sorry about the long time between posts...I'm going to try to be much better about how long it takes me to post between chapters, but our internet has been down and having a ton of problems so I haven't really had a chance to update this story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, especially the reviewer (I'm sorry I don't have your username handy at the moment, otherwise I would name you)who pointed out that I had typed Summer Roberts, because I definitely had meant to put Summer Cohen. Icorrected that a while ago, sometime after you pointed it out for me.Again, thank you to all reviewers, I love hearing your comments and suggestions. Please leave your reviews again for this chapter; it is a little slow, I think, it's not very exciting, but I think it was kind of a necessary filler chapter...things will get more exciting the next chapter, as Seth will be home with his family by then. Okay, enjoy this as much as is possible and please review! Thank you!

Callie

**Chapter Three**

Summer was sitting on the couch, her head in her hands, when the doorbell rang. It had been six minutes since her call to 911. Since then she had called only Marissa and Ryan and Kirsten and Sandy. She had told both couples to come over immediately and hadn't explained what had happened, just that she needed them to be there and that she'd explain everything once they arrived at her house.

Summer jumped up and ran to the front door. Flinging the door open, she was greeted by red and blue flashing lights, sirens, policemen, and police dogs on leashes in her front yard. "Summer Cohen?" a red headed man stepped forward and gazed at her intensely.

"Yes," Summer answered, wrapping her arms around herself. His intense gaze was making her feel very self-conscious. "Yes, that's me. I'm Summer." Summer paused for a moment before looking up at the man. "I'm babbling." Then Summer shook her head wildly and said, "Who cares about me, you're here to help Shannon."

"My name is Brad Prescott, I'm the inspector who has been assigned to your daughter's case. You and I should talk as soon as possible, but first of all, I need to know if there were any witnesses to the crime," Brad asked.

Summer nodded, stepping backwards and making room for Brad to come into the house. Brad signaled several policemen into the house and said, "Check all the rooms for an intruder, for the girl, or for the body. Be on the look out for any evidence." The policemen, which totaled at least twenty, were piling into the house and splitting up. More policemen were still outside standing by squat cars and searching the yard for clues with search dogs sniffing around.

Summer became very silent and still as all these people ran around her, searching her house and moving all their belongings around. She felt so overwhelmed. Shannon was gone, and there were more than two dozen people searching her property for possibly _a body_. A body of her little girl, her perfect angel, Shannon.

"Ms. Cohen?" Brad asked, searching her face for some sign of recognition that would show she could hear him.

Summer moved her head slowly so that her eyes could met Brad's. "Mrs. It's Mrs. Cohen."

"Okay, Mrs. Cohen. Now, let's get going so we can help your daughter. Were there any witnesses?" Brad asked.

"Yes, one of my other daughters witnessed…Shannon…being taken. She saw the whole thing, I believe," Summer said. _I can't believe I'm telling an inspector that Kaylie witnessed her sister's kidnapping…I can't believe I'm even thinking the word 'kidnapping',_ Summer thought to herself, still feeling bewildered, out of place, and confused. _Why is this happening to me? What did I do to deserve this?_

"How many children do you have?" Brad asked, taking out a small pad of white paper from his pocket and a pen.

"Six," Summer answered. "Shannon, Courtney, Kaylie, Jake, Emily, and Ben." When Summer noticed Brad writing their names all down, she added, "They're ages eleven, eight, seven, five, four, and two, respectively."

"Okay," Brad said as he finished writing down all that information, "where are they? They need to be separated." Brad glanced back down at his notes. "Well, actually Jake, Emily, and Ben are all too young to be questioned…but Kaylie and Courtney will have to be separated from each other and you, both will have to be interrogated."

"They're all sitting in the dining room together…it's that way," Summer said pointing.

"Okay. I need to go get a statement from Kaylie and then we'll get the girls into separate cars to be taken to the police station to be formally interviewed by policemen and staff. While I do that, it would be a good idea for you to find some recent, close up if possible, pictures of Shannon for the newscasts and also some of her personal items and clothing so that the dogs can catch her scent better," Brad told her.

"Okay," Summer said although she did not move. She felt very unsure about leaving her children in the hands of a stranger, especially after the night they had just had. Summer was sure though that the night was far from over and that things would only get worse as the events progressed through the early morning. Summer nodded to the inspector just as a policeman popped his head into the house.

"Inspector? There's two couples and some kids here…they say Mrs. Cohen called them and told them to come here immediately, although she hadn't explained why," the policeman explained. "Should I let them in?"

"No, this is a crime scene," the inspector answered. "Tell them to wait outside and not to touch anything."

Summer shook her head. "No, let Sandy Cohen and Ryan Atwood in. They're both lawyers. My children and I have a right to a lawyer, don't we?" Summer asked the inspector as she turned to look at him.

"You're not being arrested. You don't need a lawyer," Brad explained exasperatedly.

"I may not need one, but I want them in here," Summer argued. "I, for one, do not want my girls being taken to some foreign police station alone, especially when they'll already be separated for God knows what reason." Summer turned to the policeman and said in her commanding voice, "Let them in."

The policeman turned to the red headed inspector and raised his eyebrows. Brad nodded his head curtly at the policeman to signal it was okay to let the men into the house. A moment later, Sandy Cohen and Ryan Atwood stepped into the foyer of the Cohen manor. The moment Sandy's eyes hit Summer's face, he knew something terrible had happened. He, of course, had already thought that by the policemen out front and the mysterious late night phone call, but he found the confirmation he needed in Summer's eyes.

"Summer, sweetie, what happened?" he asked stepping towards her and putting his hands firmly on her arms.

"Shannon was kidnapped from her bedroom. Kaylie witnessed it. They-" Summer said jerking her thumb over her shoulder at the inspector, "want to take Kaylie and Courtney to the police station for formal interrogating and want them to go separately."

"Okay, okay. Summer, listen to me. Everything is going to be fine, they are going to find Shannon. She's going to be fine, they'll find her," Sandy said not knowing who he was trying to convince more in that moment—Summer or himself. "I'll go with Kaylie to the police station and Ryan can go with Courtney to make sure they don't over do anything, and are asking appropriate things and stuff like that…Marissa can take Emily, Jake, and Ben back home with their kids…and Kirsten can help you here, with whatever you need," Sandy told her.

Summer nodded, feeling slightly better now that Sandy and Ryan were there. They had a plan now, something to do, some way of feeling as if they were making a difference in the case and that they were not helpless in all this. "Okay, okay, well, Kirsten can go up to Shannon's room and get some of her belongings out so the search dogs can pick up her scent. I also have to gather some recent and close up pictures of Shannon for the press and the Amber Alert," Summer told him, sniffling as she did so. She still couldn't believe this was happening, but with Sandy taking charge, she felt as though things might start to get rolling and maybe some progress would be made because of it.

Brad stepped forward. "One of my men has just informed me that as soon as you get us a recent picture of Shannon, the news stations will broadcast the information and an Amber Alert will go out immediately," Brad informed Summer and the growing extended family gathering in the foyer. "What that really means," Brad said taking in a deep breath here, "is that Shannon's case was just declared an official kidnapping. Based on the crime scene and evidence found here, we can say almost one hundred percent sure that she was taken against her will."

Summer was not sure how to respond to this, everything was happening so fast and she felt as though nothing was really being done. "I'm going to go find a picture for you," Summer announced as she turned away from the three men in the room and hurried up the stairs to study. She threw open the door, hurried to a large walk in closet in the room, and grabbed a box labeled 'Shannon Elizabeth'. She pulled off the lid and dumped the contents of the box onto the carpeted floor in the closet. Summer bent down and picked out five or six pictures of Shannon that were taken within the past six months and were fairly up close.

When she arrived back downstairs, she found Kirsten waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs. "Oh, Summer," Kirsten sighed as she saw her daughter-in-law. Kirsten wrapped her arms around Summer for a brief few moments, giving her a quick hug, knowing that they didn't even have time for that. "Emily, Jake, and Ben just went back to Marissa's house with her and the kids. Courtney already left for the police station with Ryan in the same car as her, and Kaylie just finished giving her statement to the police, with Sandy in the room. She'll be heading over to the police station for a formal interview soon. Sandy's going with her, of course." Kirsten looked down and noticed the pictures gathered in Summer's hands. "Oh," she said softly. "Let's go find Inspector Prescott and give him those so they can send out the Amber Alert and get her picture circulating."

Kirsten gently took Summer's hand in hers and guided her throughout the downstairs until they finally found Brad by the family room window, helping other policemen take down different measurements. "Inspector," Kirsten said as she gently took the pictures out of Summer's hands, "here are several pictures of Shannon."

Brad turned around. "Alright, thank you, I'll go send this out now." Brad took the pictures out of Kirsten's hands just a little too roughly and walked confidently out of the room. Kirsten couldn't help but roll her eyes. He had to be the least compassionate person she could think of to be doing the job he was.

Kirsten turned around and put on her brave face for Summer. "So…what time will Seth be here?" Kirsten asked as she came to the realization that she didn't know what else to ask.

Summer looked up at Kirsten with tearful eyes. "I…I haven't quite…gotten around…to, um, calling him yet," she answered in a whisper.

Kirsten blinked a few times and then said, "Excuse me? What did you just say?" Summer's tears poured silently down her face.

"I…I can't call him. How do I call him and tell him I lost our daughter? How do I call him and tell him that his daughter is gone? That she just disappeared from her bedroom, and that I'm not really sure what is going on? That I haven't a single clue about who took her or why?" Summer started sobbing harder. "I can't call him."

"Summer, you have to. You have to call and let him know what's going on. He is going to want to be here for you and the other children. No matter what happens with Shannon's case, you have five other children who are going to desperately need their mother _and their father_," Kirsten was begging Summer to call him. When Kirsten finished and realized that Summer still looked a bit unconvinced, she added, "Either you call him now or I will. I'll bet he'd rather hear it from you, but one way or another, he needs to know…so call him or I will. You choose."

Summer didn't say anything for a few moments and then said, "Okay. I'll call." Kirsten wrapped her arms around Summer and held her close for a moment. Then she backed away, retrieved a cordless phone, and handed it to Summer. Summer found the hotel number in the call history and hit 'Talk'.

"Sum, honey…you know I love you…but honestly…isn't it a bit earlier to be calling?" Seth answered somewhat groggily.

"Seth," Summer said. She could picture him sitting up immediately in bed, wondering what her tone was for, why she sounded so worried.

"Summer, what's wrong? Honey, what's wrong?" Seth asked, his voice filled with emotion and concern.

"Oh, God, Seth. It's Shannon. She…she, oh God, SETH, she-oh Seth, SHE was kidnapped. From her bedroom. By a man. Who had a knife. And a bat, apparently. There's blood _everywhere_, just everywhere. The police are all over the place, with blood hounds and-" Summer had started babbling as she sobbed heavily into the phone. Kirsten reached over and grabbed the phone from Summer. Perhaps letting Summer tell Seth hadn't been the best plan of them all.

"Sum, sweetie, go sit down on the couch," Kirsten said quickly, trying to sound calm. Summer was babbling, almost incoherently, something she had a tendency to do before her rage blackouts struck. Kirsten flagged down on of the policemen and told him to get her water ASAP before Kirsten brought the phone up to her ear. "Seth?" There was a long pause. "Yes, that's right…okay, I'll tell her…I love you, too. See you soon," Kirsten replied. She hung up the phone and turned to Summer. "He'll be here as soon as possible, he's making travel arrangements right now."

"Right," Summer mumbled from where she sat on the couch.

Kirsten ran a hand through her own blonde hair. "Summer, it's going to be oka-" Kirsten attempted to comfort her daughter-in-law, but was interrupted by a police officer.

"Mrs. Cohen, we have a few questions about what happened here tonight," the officer interrupted. Without giving Summer even a moment to respond, he continued speaking. "Shannon was eleven, correct?" he asked.

Summer's eyes flashed angrily as she suddenly found her strength and courage again. "Shannon _is_ eleven. Present tense," Summer snapped.

The officer barely nodded before moving on. "Does Shannon have a boyfriend?" he asked in a bored tone.

"She's _eleven. _Eleven years old. Would you like me to spell that out for you?" Summer glared at the officer angrily.

"She's in junior high, correct? Statistics show that most people start dating in junior high these days," the officer explained in a dull voice. "I'm guessing by your response, no boyfriend. Or not that you know of, at least." The officer wrote down a few more things on his notepad while Summer turned and stared at Kirsten in disbelief. _Is he seriously asking me these things? What in the world is he going to ask me next? _Summer worried.

"What kind of kids does she hang out with?" the officer was now biting on the pen cap and looking extremely bored.

"Can I have someone else question me?" Summer asked Kirsten. "Someone who isn't completely incompetent? Do they maybe have someone who's half-incompetent? Like partially incompetent?"

Kirsten frowned. "I'll go find Inspector Prescott," Kirsten told Summer before walking into the next room.

"Well, thank God someone is doing something," Summer snapped. Summer sighed and moved her feet around on the carpet. She felt unbelievably restless. Nothing was being done. Questioning her wasn't going to help; Summer hadn't taken Shannon. As far as Summer knew, the kidnapper was no one she knew. As the officer continued to bother Summer with useless questions, she let her gaze drift to the window frame with the shattered glass.

Staring at the shattered glass, a realization hit her hard and painfully. Shannon was really gone. This was really happening. Someone really had taken her and the Cohens had no idea if they'd ever see her alive again. There were no guarantees that Summer would ever hug Shannon again or even hear her wonderful laugh. Or see her beautiful smile. Or watch her dance, ever so gracefully, in front of an audience.

There were no more guarantees. As far as Summer could see, Shannon's kidnapping was exactly like every other kidnapping you hear about on the news. Summer took this to mean that Shannon had the same chances those kids had. The odds were already looking slim in their favor and Summer didn't like it, not one bit. And with that thought in mind, she barfed on the police officer with the bored expression and dull tone standing in front of her, still asking countless and useless questions.


	4. Parents Are Likely Suspects

**Author's Note: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Reviews are always appreciated and they help keep me going! I'm sorry about the wait on this chapter, but I wrote (even if it was just one sentence) whenever I was able to...I'm currently working on Chapter Five...and I want to say that I'm sorry that I said you would find out more about Ryan and Marissa's family shortly before...because you still haven't heard a peep from their kids...but Seth and Summer will be seeing their kids shortly, so you'll be hearing about Ryan/Marissa's kids soon...okay, well enjoy this chapter, I thought it was kind of off balance...but I'm not really sure what I mean by that...if you read it and understand what I'm saying there, feel free to leave some criticism...I could probably use it. Thanks again to everyone who reads and thank you to everyone who reviews. You guys are the best. Okay, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

**Chapter Four**

"Okay, Mrs. Cohen, we're done questioning you for now, which means you can leave shortly. Courtney is also done, and Kaylie has about five more minutes to go," yet another office told her.

Summer looked up at the officer and nodded politely. She was sitting on a couch in the waiting area by the main reception. She had a small Styrofoam cup filled with bad tasting coffee in her hands.

The officer studied her face for a few moments and then started to sit down next to her when both Summer and the officer heard a voice say, "Excuse me, my name is Seth Cohen. My wife and two of my daughters should be here—Summer, Kaylie, and Courtney Cohen."

Summer turned and looked in her husband's direction. His back was to her and Summer let out a tiny cry as she jumped up and ran to him. "Seth!" she gasped as she neared him.

Seth whipped around and grabbed Summer into his arms. He ran his hands through Summer's hair and kissed her forehead. "It's going to be okay," Seth said in as soothing a voice as was possible. "They're going to find her," Seth said, his voice trembling as he spoke.

"Seth, I-" Summer started to tell her husband something when someone pulled the two apart.

"Mr. Cohen, I presume?" an officer named Kyle Rogers stood besides the couple.

Officer Rogers had been helping out at the house earlier that morning and had met with Summer several times since that morning. "Officer Evans is waiting to question you on the disappearance of your daughter."

Summer sighed angrily. "This is completely, one-hundred percent not needed," Summer snapped. Summer had let them interrogate her, but she refused to let the officers put her family through any of the pain she had been through since she awoke hours ago. The officers' questions were out of line, inappropriate, and did not apply to their family. No one from their family would have taken Shannon. Seth, Shannon's own father, would not have hurt her or taken her. Summer knew the statistics on kidnappings and kidnappers, but she also knew her family and her life. She, her husband, and their extended family were not guilty of Shannon's disappearance.

"Mrs. Cohen," Officer Rogers sighed. "We've explained this to you. If you want to help your daughter, you will cooperate. Cooperating means being questioned if you are a potential suspect. It's that easy."

"We shouldn't be suspects. It's that easy," Summer snapped back.

"In most of these cases, parents or family members are the culprits. Chances are whoever took your daughter is someone who knows her well and is close to her, someone you probably know well and trust," Officer Rogers snapped back. He paused before adding, "In other words, you two are not below reasonable suspicion. In fact, you two have the highest level of suspicion on you right now."

"THAT IS ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS!" Summer bellowed at Officer Rogers. "One of our daughters witnessed Shannon being taken. As long as Kaylie hasn't named either of us, you should realize it's not likely that one of us took Shannon. Kaylie would recognize her own parents. Family members should also be ruled out. Kaylie would have recognized a family member as well!"

"Mrs. Cohen, that is something we are taking into consideration. In the mean time, no one is above suspicion. That means Mr. Cohen will be questioned as well," Officer Rogers explained to Summer.

"This is UNBELIVABLE," Summer muttered angrily.

"Sum, it's okay…I'll go be questioned, then I'll be back and we can get back to what's really important…finding Shannon," Seth seemed to be managing much better than Summer, but his hands were shaking and Summer could see looks of anguish and desperation in his eyes. Summer nodded to Seth and leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

Seth walked away with Officer Rogers right as Courtney walked up with Ryan from behind. "Is that Daddy?" Courtney asked, pointing in the direction Seth was walking off in.

Summer turned and bent down in front of Courtney. "Yeah, honey…Daddy's going to go tell the police some things about Shannon so they can find her quicker. How are you, honey?" Summer asked as she tucked stray dark brown hairs in back of Courtney's ears.

"I wanna go home, Mom. I want to go to bed," Courtney paused here for a few minutes. "Is Shannon going to read me my bedtime story tonight? She didn't have time last night. Remember?" Courtney asked. "You had to do it for her."

Summer's eyes filled with tears. "Oh, Court…I…I don't…" Summer stammered for a few moments before looking up at Ryan and saying, "I don't know what to do." Summer burst into tears and starting sobbing hysterically in the middle of the police station. She didn't care that the police were judging her, that the other people in the room were staring, and she didn't even care that her eight-year-old daughter was witnessing her mother basically breaking down.

Courtney watched, confused, as her mother and uncle embraced, each with tears in their eyes. "Mommy?" Courtney asked, reaching for the hem of Summer's shirt and tugging on it. "Mommy?"

Summer wiped her eyes, pulled away from Ryan, and looked at her eight-year-old's face. "Yes, honey?" Summer said pulling together everything she had in her to give her daughter a together response.

Courtney stepped forward, arms opened wide, and said, "Do you want a hug, Mommy?" Summer eye's filled with tears again and she nodded at Courtney.

"Of course I do, Court, I love getting hugs," Summer whispered in a soft tone. Courtney threw her arms around her mother and whispered back, "Shannon will come home, Mommy, I swear. She promised she'd read me my bedtime story."

Summer whimpered at Courtney's words, and pulled her daughter closer to her. She even ended up picking Courtney up and holding her so that Courtney's legs were wrapped around Summer's waist. Summer hadn't held Courtney this way since she was four or five, but it felt appropriate at the moment. Summer held onto Courtney this way until she felt a hand land on her shoulder and squeeze gently.

She glanced over her shoulder and spotted Seth standing directly behind her and Courtney. Summer put Courtney down and told her to give her father a hug. While Seth was talking to Courtney, Officer Rogers walked back up to the group. "Mr. Cohen and Mrs. Cohen? Can we have you come back by us one more time?" Officer Rogers asked. "We just found some material in your files that we'd like to run over quickly."

Summer rolled her eyes and nodded. Seth and Summer stood together for a moment, hugging Courtney and telling her to stay with Uncle Ryan until they came back. Finally, the couple followed Officer Rogers back to the room they had both been questioned in earlier.

"Sit down," Officer Rogers said. Summer and Seth obeyed, looking around the room as they did. Inspector Prescott and Officer Evans were also in the room. They occupied one far corner together.

"Mr. and Mrs. Cohen, we're just going to cut to the chase here. We were just looking over medical files for the both of you and saw that Mrs. Cohen suffers from rage blackouts," Inspector Prescott said, as he walked toward the center of the room and positioned himself directly in front of the couple, both his hands lying firmly on the table in front of Seth and Summer. "Is that true?"

Seth and Summer threw worried glances at each other. _They couldn't possibly be suggesting what I think they're suggesting, could they?_ both Seth and Summer wondered.

Summer sat up straighter and said reluctantly, "Yes, I have had a tendency in the past to suffer from rage blackouts."

"Mrs. Cohen, is it possible that you were angry with Shannon last night? So angry that perhaps your rage just took over? Maybe you did something you didn't mean to do?" Inspector Prescott said accusingly as he leaned forward getting dangerously close to Summer.

"I would never hurt Shannon. Or any of my other children. I have never had a rage blackout while they were in my care," Summer snapped as tears flooded her eyes.

"Perhaps she made you so angry that you fell into one of your blackouts. And during that blackout, you killed her. It's starting to slowly come back, isn't it? Memories of her and how angry she made you feel," Inspector Prescott pressed. "You have a lot on your plate, Mrs. Cohen. Your husband is always gone, you have six kids to raise-" Inspector Prescott stopped here. "You know," he said as if he was reconsidering his approach to the argument, "I have three daughters of my own. I understand how frustrating and aggravating children can be, especially when they all choose to be like that at the same time. I can see how you might have snapped, lost control of yourself. No one would blame you, they would all understand how hard this must have all been for you. It's okay, Mrs. Cohen. Just admit you killed Shannon and-" Inspector Prescott was interrupted.

Both Seth and Summer erupted with anger after these accusations fell from Inspector Prescott's lips. "I did NOT kill my daughter. I did not hurt Shannon, I did not hide her, I do NOT know where she is or who has taken her," Summer screamed angrily through heaving sobs.

"Summer would never do that. We love our children. We don't abuse them or hurt them in anyway. Summer has never been irresponsible or reckless with our children and never will be!" Seth yelled as he jumped up to defend Summer. He was clearly infuriated that these types of accusations were being thrown in the direction of his wife.

"Mr. Cohen, be quiet and sit still! Mrs. Cohen, just admit that you lost control and violently put an end to your daughter's life-" Inspector Prescott argued back.

Seth stood up and pulled Summer out of her seat next to him. He pointed to the door and gently pushed her in that direction. "That's all for today. The next time you decide to question myself, my wife, or any of our children you will do so with lawyers present. In the mean time, stay away from my family."

* * *

One hour later, Summer sat at the kitchen table in Seth's childhood home, whipping tears of pure anguish away from her eyes. She had Kleenex in one hand and a bottle of water in the other. Seth sat to her right, his head buried in his hands. Their kids, minus Shannon of course, were staying at the Atwoods' home for the time being. Their house had been officially closed as a crime scene hours ago, after the last police officers had gone through the house. There was no telling how long it would be before the Cohens would be allowed to re-enter their home.

The couple had come to Sandy and Kirsten's house for a few moments of quiet, without the investigators, reporters, and photographers trying to pry into their lives. Kirsten and Sandy were doing everything possible to find Shannon—they were organizing volunteers, ground searches, and even a search center where volunteers could come and offer to help in any way possible. With Sandy and Kirsten out of the house and the remaining kids at the Atwoods' with Marissa, Seth and Summer took this opportunity to catch their breath and discuss the events of the day so far with each other.

Summer swallowed hard and tried desperately to fight back her tears as she turned to Seth and said in a terrified tone, "What are we going to do?"

Seth turned to his wife, and saw someone he hadn't seen in many years. Summer had always pretended to be strong and completely independent in high school, but in her moments of weakness, she always let her real self come out. That was the person who was scared and upset and just wanted to know someone knew what to do, that someone could make things better, that someone cared enough to do all of this. In the years after high school, she had truly become that stronger, more independent person she had sometimes intensely pretended to be in high school. He hated seeing her this way, so scared and unsure.

"We're going to find her and bring her home," Seth said in a confident voice. He was barely wavering in front of her, and appeared to be much more calm than his wife. He was only calm on the outside though; on the inside, Seth was torn up, confused, and just as scared as Summer was.

Summer turned to Seth and looked at him with wide eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again as if she was too terrified to even voice her thoughts. "Say whatever you're thinking, Summer. Come on, just try me," Seth begged softly.

"You say we're going to find her and bring her home…but what if we…what if we can't…" Summer rolled her eyes and turned to Seth. "I'm just going to say this and get it out of my head." Seth nodded at Summer and reassured her that she should just say whatever she was thinking. "What if we can only bring home a body? What if she's already gone?" Summer asked, tears filling her eyes and hands trembling in her lap. She had just let her greatest fear out of her mouth and the fear seemed to be filling the whole room.

Seth turned to Summer and said, "I don't believe she is gone. Nothing is telling me that." Seth glared at her. "I can't believe you said that," he added, almost childishly, a few moments later.

"Seth, something you may have to face in the weeks to come, is that Shannon may be dead. Most kidnapped children are killed before the first five hours of their kidnapping is up. She has been gone longer than five. Chances are not in our favor here," Summer snapped back. Immediately Summer regretted her words. She knew that they were true; she had heard them all morning from many different people involved with the investigation. Even so, she knew above all, this was something painful to hear. Something she didn't want to accept, but she didn't know how she could not. The chances were slim for their family, and she had to go into this investigation understanding what those chances were, exactly. She had never been an optimistic person; she had seen too much and experienced too much growing up in Newport. These experiences and childhood memories were what had taught her to be pessimistic instead of optimistic. She wouldn't allow herself to hope for something that had so slim of a chance of happening. Chances were Shannon was not coming home, at least not alive, and Summer did want to put so much energy into hoping for Shannon's safe return when her pessimism was telling her that Shannon was not coming home.

Seth looked at Summer and all she could see in his face was hurt and disbelief. "If you," Seth started out slowly, "don't even want to try to bring her home, then I don't know who I've been married to for the past twelve years."

Those words hit Summer strongly and she started sobbing almost instantly. "I _want_ her home, I do," Summer snapped. "How could I not?" Summer paused for a moment as the tears continued to silently fall down her face. "I am so scared, Seth. I'm scared that she's been raped or brutally murdered or maybe both. Maybe her throat's been slashed, or she's been stabbed a thousand times. Seth, we don't know what's happened to her. We may never know. I can't accept that though—I need to know what has happened to her, I need to know if she's coming back to us or if she can't. I'm so scared that if I am so certain she's alive and that she's coming home, that I wouldn't be able to handle it if we heard news that she is dead one day instead of hearing that she is alive. I feel like I need to prepare myself for what happens if she's not coming home."

Neither said anything for a few moments. The room was silent other than the sobbing noises coming from Summer. Summer reached forward with one hand and pulled one of Seth's hands toward her. She held his one hand between her two and held it tightly against her chest. "Seth, please, you have to believe me. I want Shannon home. I'm just scared…I'm so scared, Seth," Summer pleaded with him.

Seth crumbled watching his wife sob as he always had when she was in pain. He leaned forward and pulled Summer to him, wrapping his free arm around her and kissing her cheek. "I know, I know, I know you're scared, Sum. I am, too. And just to be clear, I love you, and I'm sorry what I said about not knowing who I've been married to. I know you want Shannon home, I know you're scared, and I hope you know I am, too," Seth told Summer soothingly as he rubbed Summer's back. "But, honey, we can't say 'I'm just going to accept that Shannon is dead because it's easier than hoping she is alive and finding out she isn't.'"

Summer nodded slowly and wiped some of her tears away from her eyes. "So, what are we going to do?" Summer asked him, hoping that he had an idea of where to go now.

"We're going to find Shannon and bring her home," Seth said simply, as if that was that, and as if it was all as easy as that. Summer nodded and mouthed 'okay' at him, but only because she couldn't find the strength to speak anymore. She wanted desperately to believe Seth and to believe that Shannon was alive, but she didn't know if she could believe either of those things.


	5. Lindsay To The Rescue

**Author's Note: **Thank you all for the reviews! One thing I wanted to mention though--several people made comments about rage black outs being on Summer's medical records. Reviewers mentioned that they didn't think rage black outs were real. Technically, they are not real, but there are psychological disorders where, during extreme periods of trauma or rage, you can black out and not realize what you are doing, sometimes for hours at a time. Most of the time these black outs are following a major trauma or period of rage, but sometimes people seem to have them more consistently depending on the disorder they have. While the proper name probably isn't "rage black outs", there is such a thing as a rage black out (or at least the idea of it). Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I'm sorry about how long it's been since I updated, but we're vacationing right now so I finallyhad time to write it. I'm working on Chapter Six as I write this, and I wanted to throw out the idea that I'm writing chapter six as three or four weeks after this chapter...if you have any comments/suggestions, please leave them in a review! Thank you to all reviewers again, you guys keep me going!

Happy New Year's to everyone! (In case I do not update in time, but I'm hoping I will!)

Callie

**Chapter Five**

Half an hour later, Seth had arrived at the volunteer center to hopefully help plan some of the ground and aerial searches for Shannon. He saw his mother first, whom was busy handing out flyers with Shannon's image and description to volunteers.

"Okay, so please take your pile of flyers and hand them out to stores. Ask managers and owners to display the flyers in their store front windows. You can also hand them to people on the street or tape the flyers to trees or light posts, okay?" Kirsten paused to see if anyone would ask a question and when no one did, she put the warmest smile she could manage on her face, thanked the volunteers, and excused them.

As the volunteers scattered off, Kirsten noticed her son standing a few feet away. "Oh, Seth," Kirsten sighed as she put her arms out to him. As she hugged him, she inquired about how long he had been at the volunteer center and where Summer was.

"About five minutes—I wanted to help get some of the ground and aerial searches going or do whatever I possibly can to bring her home," Seth paused here and shuffled his feet around a bit. "Summer is at Ryan and Marissa's…she wanted to see our kids, especially Court and Kaylie, and check on them."

Kirsten nodded thoughtfully. "I called over there earlier—I heard Allie's not doing too well. She really wants to help and she's just sick over what's happened," Kirsten explained as she folded her arms over her chest.

Seth wasn't surprised to hear that Alyson Atwood (better known to her family as Allie) was sick over Shannon's disappearance. Alyson was Marissa and Ryan's eldest daugher at eleven years old and one of Shannon's best friends. "Allie's a sweet girl. It's wonderful that she wants to help, but I don't know how she can…we probably don't want any of the children running around here," Seth reasoned.

"Well, Ryan and Marissa started out thinking they didn't want her running around the volunteer center either, but Allie was so adamant about it that they finally agreed to let her come and help as long as she sticks by my side," Kirsten replied.

"If that's what they think, then Allie is more than welcome here. Either way though, I'm worried about having the kids running around anywhere. I mean, in the house, in the yard, here—" Seth paused and looked around. "I just don't know where they're safe anymore. I can't have my eyes on all of them all the time…I just need to find somewhere I know they'll be safe and I won't have to worry about their well being when I'm not with them."

Kirsten stepped closer to Seth and started whispering to him. "Well, Marissa and I talked about it…all of us—you, Summer, Marissa, Ryan, Sandy, me—we all need to be able to help out the investigation in any way possible so we can bring Shannon home. We don't have time or a person to spare on watching the kids. The kids need a new, permanent caretaker until things are more under control. They need to be moved to a different house." Kirsten stopped waiting to see Seth's reaction to all this. Seth didn't seem thrilled about the idea, but he didn't say he had heard enough either. "Seth, only God knows when you'll be able to go back to your house, and we can't keep ten kids at Ryan and Marissa's…especially because Marissa is just as famous as Summer is. Both of your addresses can be easily accessed by the public. I think it would best to move them all somewhere that is rather…hidden from the public."

Seth considered all this before replying. "Mom, where do you think we're going to keep ten kids with famous parents hidden from the public eye? Don't get me wrong, I think the idea is a great one, but it just doesn't seem very logical to me," Seth explained as his forehead wrinkled.

Kirsten put on her famous "well-that's-where-you're-wrong" face. "This morning, shortly after the first Amber Alert went out for Shannon, I received a phone call from Lindsay. She wants to help in any way possible and she's volunteered to watch all ten kids for as long as you guys need. She'll take them all. She and her husband have a summer house that's just outside of Newport…it takes forty minutes to get there with no traffic. It's isolated and no one is around for miles…I think it's the perfect place to keep the kids safe," Kirsten explained. "Her kids will be there, too, and all the kids will just have a ton of fun together. Your kids will be happy there, and safe, too. You'll have a ton of time to figure out Shannon's disappearance and find her without having to worry about the safety of your other children," Kirsten paused. "What do you think?"

"I think…" Seth swallowed hard. "I'll call Summer and let her know…we'll pack the kids up and drop them off tonight and…that'll be that." Seth nodded at his mother, trying to appear calm and collected, but inside he wasn't at all calm or collected. He hated the idea of sending his kids away, even to someone like Lindsay, who truly loved them.

"It's for the best, Seth. They'll be far away from the danger that will exist around this investigation. Trust me, you don't want them here, you don't want them to see the things that will be going on. These investigations can be so cruel towards the families of the victims. They'll be better off not seeing or hearing about these things," Kirsten reassured her son.

Seth nodded at Kirsten. "I'm going to go to Summer and let her know about Lindsay and the kids," Seth kissed his mother's cheek and said goodbye to her.

"It's for the best, Seth," Kirsten repeated as she held Seth's hands in hers for a moment before letting him go.

Seth nodded again and then walked away from his mother, praying that she was right and that this move would be best for the kids. He wasn't sure what was best or what would keep his kids the safest anymore.

Seth let himself into Marissa and Ryan's home quietly. He could hear some of the older kids whispering quietly to each other in the living room. The younger kids, he presumed, were in the kitchen with Summer and Marissa. Seth heard their voices more clearly as he walked closer to the kitchen.

He stuck his head in the kitchen first and glanced around. Summer was sitting with her side to Seth, with Emily in her lap and Jake and Ben sitting at her feet on the floor. "Hey, babe," Seth whispered softly to Summer as he leaned down and kissed first Summer's forehead and the top of Emily's head.

Before anyone could say anything else, Allie appeared in the kitchen with her sisters, Courtney, and Kaylie at her side. "Mom, can I go help out now? Is that why Uncle Seth is here?" she asked in a pleading voice.

Marissa looked unsure as she glanced from Seth to Allie and back to Seth. "Well…" Marissa started uncertainly.

"Actually," Seth interrupted, "I need to talk to your mothers before any of you go anywhere, so Courtney come here and get Emily, Jake, and Ben, okay? Kaylie, please help her." Seth helped his kids move themselves out of the kitchen while Allie and her sisters, nine-year-old Megan and seven-year-old Taylor, moved their brothers, five-year-old Erik and two-year-old Noah, into the living room as well. "Allie's in charge," Seth called as he left the living room and reentered the kitchen.

"So…" he said looking from Summer to Marissa. "Mom thinks the kids aren't safe here in Newport. She thinks they should stay somewhere that's not as publicly known as our homes are right now." Seth paused and waited for a reply. After a few moments without one, he added, "You know, at least until we know who took Shannon and whether or not they're after all the kids or if taking Shannon was just…random."

Summer turned and looked at Seth. "My kids," she started slowly, "don't need any more drama in their lives right now. I don't think the best thing to do right now is to tear them away from their parents."

Marissa shot Seth a sympathetic look and jumped in here. "I actually think it's a good idea. I mean, you don't know who took Shannon or what their motive was. Maybe the others kids aren't safe here. Plus, with them out of Newport, you could focus all your attention on the investigation for now. You'll hardly be able to put much effort into helping find Shannon if you're constantly running home to raise five kids," Marissa said trying to sound reasonable.

"Maybe that's true, Marissa," Summer snapped. "But what the hell am I supposed to do? Just say 'okay, I lost one, so now the other five have to go away as well'? Yeah, perhaps I don't have time to raise the five of them right now, but I can't stop raising them. Someone has to!" Summer said angrily.

Marissa eyes welled up with tears and she turned to look at Seth. She shrugged helplessly at him. Seth gave her a small reassuring smile and then turned to Summer. "You're right, Sum. Someone has to. And someone has volunteered to, at least for a while. Lindsay wants to take the kids," he told her. Seth turned Marissa. "She wants to take your five as well. She says she wants to help with the investigation, but she thinks she'll do more good watching the kids and keeping them out of the drama of the investigation than if she was just here passing out flyers or something."

Summer sighed, as more tears poured down her face. She tilted her head to the side and grabbed a tissue from the box that sat in front of her on the table. "Lindsay wants to take them?" she asked. "You're sure?"

"Mom said she called this morning after the first Amber Alert on Shannon went out. Lindsay volunteered to take all ten kids to her summer house. She thinks they'll be safer and happier there then they would be here, at home, during the investigation," Seth stopped for a moment and seemed to be debating whether or not he should go on. "They'll be okay with Lindsay. You know Lindsay loves them and will take the best care of them that's possible right now. The house is only forty minutes from here and we can visit whenever we have the time. You'll still see them; they'll just be safer and probably happier than they'd be here with us."

Summer breathed in and out slowly a few times before looking up at Seth and saying, "Okay. If you think this is what's best for kids, then that's what we'll do." Summer swallowed hard as more tears poured down from her eyes.

Seth pulled Summer into his arms and hugged her tightly. "It'll be okay, I promise," Seth said soothingly as he rubbed her back for a few minutes. While he was doing so, he looked over Summer's shoulder at Marissa and asked her if she was sending her kids to Lindsay's as well. Marissa nodded and said she was going upstairs to pack stuff for her kids and Summer and Seth's.

Moments later, Seth pulled away from Summer and looked her over. He tucked a few stray strands of hair behind her ears and kissed her forehead. "I said we'd drop them off tonight around seven…so can you be ready to leave at six?" Seth asked.

"Yeah," Summer said as she forced herself to stand up. "I'm coming to the volunteer center with you," she told him as she looked around for her purse.

"Summer, don't. Stay here with the kids until we take them to Lindsay's. You're not going to see much of them for a while. Spend some time with them before we drop them off and you can go to the volunteer center later tonight," Seth told her. "There's going to be plenty of time to go to the volunteer center," Seth reminded her sadly.

Summer nodded, tears still dripping down her face, as she leaned into Seth and buried her head into his shoulder. She could only wonder now how long it would be until an ending came to this nightmare. No matter when the ending would come, Summer dreaded the ending to this nightmare that she felt was coming.


	6. Meeting Mark Donahue

**Author's Notes:** Based on reviews, I have decided not to skip ahead a few weeks in this story and just keep goingfrom where last chapter left off. I think eventually I will have to skip ahead a week or so every once and a while, but I'll try to make sure it works in the story. Please let me know if you think it's not working or if you have a better suggestion for something I write or a way I wrote a particular thing. Thank you to all who read and reviewed last chapter--it was greatly appreciated! I hope you enjoy this chapter, it's a bit on the long side, I think, but I also think it has some good parts in it. Let me know what you guys think--PLEASE review!

Also, I will try to add the next chapter by next week, but I have finals this week so I'm not sure how this week is going to go or how much time I will have. Thank you for your support.

Callie

**Chapter Six**

"I am _not_ staying with her. No way," Courtney stomped her feet angrily on the gravel driveway of Lindsay's summer house. "NO WAY," Courtney yelled again.

"Courtney, you love Lindsay! Why don't you want to stay with her?" Seth asked his daughter patiently.

"Seriously, I am not staying her. You can't just leave me here. I don't want to live with Aunt Lindsay, I want to live at home, in our house, with Riley and Chessie," Courtney pouted at her parents. "I miss Shannon, why do I have to stay here? I want to go home with you and wait for Shannon to come home."

Summer, whom had been standing behind Seth, was trying to hide herself behind him and let him protect her. From what? She wasn't sure. Maybe from her daughters and sons, who were looking at her like she had gone crazy and wondering why they had to stay with Aunt Lindsay. Maybe from Aunt Lindsay herself, because Summer feared that she would get that same, all to familiar, look of pity and fear from Lindsay that she had gotten from the rest of her friends, family, and community. Maybe so she could pretend what was going on wasn't really happening. All Summer knew was that these days she seemed to stand behind Seth a lot more than she ever use to.

"Honey, you just need to give Mommy and I some time. You won't be staying with Aunt Lindsay forever, just for a few weeks," Seth said as he tired to reassure his daughter.

"NO! I want to come home NOW, and I don't want to stay here and I want SHANNON to read me my bedtime story and I WANT HER HOME, TOO!" Courtney shrieked at her father. Seth backed away from Courtney, as if telling Marissa and Summer that he couldn't think of what else to say.

Summer stepped forward, something in her taking charge again. "Courtney," Summer said firmly as she bent down so she and Courtney were eye to eye, "you want Shannon to come home, right?" Courtney nodded slowly. "Well, then you need to do us a favor, and be good for Aunt Lindsay. If you all stay with her, Daddy, Aunt Marissa, Uncle Ryan, and Grandma and Grandpa, and I will all work very hard to bring Shannon home. The less time we spend watching you guys, the more time we'll have to be down at the center to help find her. So we need you to stay here. Can you do that for us, Court?" Summer asked seriously.

Courtney nodded her head slowly and sadly. "I guess so," she whispered.

"That's my beautiful girl," Summer said, wrapping her arms around Courtney. She smoothed down Courtney's hair and kissed her forehead. "You're gonna be terrific, honey. Your cousin just got a new pony and Aunt Lindsay said you could ride him. And you can play with Taylor, Megan, Carrie, and Ashlie…you're gonna have a lot of fun, sweetie."

Courtney nodded again and whispered, "Okay."

At that moment, Lindsay came down the stairs that led to her wide Victorian porch. "Oh, Summer," Lindsay said, wrapping her arms around Summer and squeezing her tightly. "I'm not going to ask how you are, I know words can't describe it," Lindsay said softly. "What have the police said? Are there any promising leads?" she asked hopefully.

Summer smiled softly at Lindsay. Her attitude was refreshing—no one else had gone with this approach to talking to Summer. Most people just whispered in horrified tones, "We're so sorry to hear about Shannon," and then they just said nothing else.

"No, there haven't been many promising leads…the policy are still interviewing family and friends and neighbors and her teachers and just about anyone else you can think of…" Summer's voice trailed off.

"We're hopeful though," Seth said stepping up and standing next to Summer. Seth and Marissa both greeted Lindsay and hugged her.

As the four adults got the Cohen and Atwood children settled in and reacquainted with Lindsay's children, Summer stood aside for a few minutes. She had already hugged, kissed, and said good bye to her five remaining children. Lindsay walked past her and stopped. "Are you alright? Do you need something?" she asked warmly.

"A nap," Summer smiled ruefully at Lindsay.

Lindsay laughed. "I understand," she said nodding her head.

"Speaking of which, are you sure you're okay with this? I mean, with my five, and Marissa's five, and your own four girls, you're gonna have your hands quite filled," Summer reminded Lindsay.

Lindsay waved her off. "Don't you worry about me or any of the kids. Pete will be home tomorrow and I'll have plenty of help. We have an amazing babysitter down the street who needs plenty of confirmation volunteering hours. If we run into any problems and I need an extra hand, I'll call her. Don't worry about them at all. You can come back and visit all you want, and call all you want," Lindsay said smiling at her. "They'll all be fine," she added reassuringly.

"If you're sure," Summer said still feeling a little uncertain.

"100 percent positive. No doubt," Lindsay said firmly. "Now, get going. I'm sure you have plenty to do."

"Oh, Linds," Summer said as she wrapped her arms tightly around Lindsay, "thank you so much."

* * *

Hours later, Summer and Seth sat at Marissa and Ryan's house. They had gone straight to the volunteer center on the way home, to find news that nothing had been discovered on any of the searches that day. This was both disappointing and relieving. Chances were that if they found something now, it would not be something positive for the Cohens. Yet their entire family was praying that they'd, of course, find Shannon alive and well. As if the volunteer center hadn't been gloomy enough for Summer and Seth, they were due back at the police station in half an hour for another round of questioning. Inspector Prescott had called and let them know that Summer's questioning would be about three hours and Seth's only about one. Summer and Seth assumed this was because he had an alibi of being in another state.

Summer took a sip of her water bottle. "I can't remember the last time it was so quiet around us," she softly commented.

Seth nodded. "Even Riles and Chess are quiet," he added. He looked at their dogs, who were lying down in the sunshine that was let in by the kitchen doors.

"Yeah. How long do you think it'll be before we can move back to our house?" Summer wondered out loud.

"Prescott said that they need it for another two weeks, and then it'll take a week to clean out all the graphite. I guess that's normal, I mean, it happened less than twenty four hours ago…" Seth said as his voice trailed off.

For a few minutes, an awkward silence filled the air. Suddenly, Summer's cell phone rang out loudly. She sighed, relieved to have something to do, so that her mind wouldn't drift over to all the 'what ifs' that had been running through her head the entire day. "Hello?" Summer answered the phone.

"Hey, Sum, it's Ryan," Ryan's voice sounded from the phone. "Is Seth there with you?" Summer quickly said he was and Ryan asked that he be put on speakerphone. "Okay, so you're both getting interrogated tonight, but first, the media wants a statement in front of the police station. Sandy looked into it and he said it looks innocent enough, as long as you two know the right things to say and what not to say."

"But how do we know what to say and what not to say? I mean, we've never had our daughter kidnapped before," Summer asked, feeling more than slightly frusturated.

"Well, Sandy talked to Diane Ruback and she said when Natalie was missing, they hired a publicist to handle all their appearances and manage all that media kind of stuff. Diane gave Sandy the number of the guy they used, she says he was wonderful. Sandy had the guy, I think his name is Mark Donahue or something like that, check into the whole statement thing today, and he says it cleared," Ryan explained. "Sandy also thought you should think about hiring him like the Rubacks did, Diane swears by him, apparently, and says it's thanks to him they ever found Natalie, especially alive."

Summer wanted to smack herself in the forehead. One of the other girls Alyson and Shannon danced with was Natalie Ruback, a very famous eleven year old who had survived a two month kidnapping, at the age of four. Summer hadn't even thought of calling the Rubacks, who they were good friends with, to see what they could do to help. Since they had been through all of this before, she was sure they had a better idea then she did.

"I can not believe we didn't think about calling Jack and Diane," Seth said out loud, shaking his head. "That was incredibly stupid of us."

"Diane offered to help in anyway, she said just to let her know if you want it," Ryan offered over the phone line.

"Of course we want it," Summer said sighing. At least Diane might have some idea of where to go next…especially concerning Mark Donahue. Summer had heard Diane say his name before, Diane said he was like an uncle to her children now and a brother to Jack and her. He came to all of Natalie's dance recitals and competitions, as well as the other Ruback children's activities. Chances are Mark would even know who Shannon was, without having to see a picture of her.

"Sandy also said if you leave the house right now and come straight here, Mark's willing to go through what you should say in the statement today, free of charge," Ryan added.

Seth glanced at Summer before answering. She nodded approvingly and Seth answered, "We're leaving right now."

As the couple left their friends' home, they were surrounded, as they had been all day, by reporters and camera crews who were all shoving their microphones in Summer and Seth's faces. They climbed into the car, trying to ignore all the questions being shouted in their direction.

"Mr. Cohen, do you believe that your wife could have possibly killed Shannon?" one yelled.

"Mrs. Cohen, is it true that your other daughter witnessed Shannon being stabbed?" another shouted.

As they pulled away, Seth muttered, "We are going to have to get some police or somebody down here to keep these people away."

Summer nodded numbly. Just when she thought she was beginning to somewhat handle Shannon's kidnapping, those reporters knocked her off her feet with their ignorant and invasive questions.

* * *

"Seth, Summer. This is Mark Donahue," Sandy introduced the adults to each other.

Mark stepped forward and put his hand out to first Summer, then Seth. "I'm very pleased to meet the both of you," Mark said smiling warmly. "Would you like to go over your statement?"

Fifteen minutes later, Summer and Seth were standing a few feet away from the podium where they would soon be making their first statement involving Shannon's disappearance. "Okay, so let's go over this one more time," Mark said clapping his hands together once. "State that you believe the kidnapper is someone you do not know, and that the kidnapper is not a family member. Make sure you say that your family members have your full confidence when it comes to their innocence in Shannon's kidnapping. Also say that you cannot disclose to anyone information about what Kaylie saw that night and that it is still being investigated by Los Angeles police."

"Alright," Summer said quietly, taking everything in.

"And remember that you choose whether or not to address the kidnapper in your statement," Mark reminded them.

"We've decided to address the kidnapper," Seth said firmly, as Summer nodded at his side.

"Okay, that's fine, but just remember all the tips I told you. Don't threaten the kidnapper, especially in a live statement. The media will go nuts over seemingly angry or even violent parents. Remember what I said—play the role that you are. You are the victim right now. Shannon is a victim, too. You want people to sympathize with you and your daughter so that they will be willing to help you find Shannon. Plus, if you threaten the kidnapper, you could just make him or her do something that we'll all regret later," Mark explained. He paused for a moment and said, "That's about it. Do you have any questions?"

Summer and Seth looked at each other and then shook their head 'no'.

"Alright, well, then good luck," Mark said, as he nodded reassuringly at them.

"Mr. Cohen? Mrs. Cohen? We're ready for your statement now," Officer Evans said. Summer smiled at him. She was beginning to like him the best of all the police. He seemed to be the only one who was at all sensitive about the nature of the case.

"We're ready," Summer answered.

"Okay, Inspector Prescott is introducing you to the media as we speak. Just walk up there, and as soon as Inspector Prescott moves from in front of the podium, move there and go through your statement," Office Evans explained kindly.

"Alright," Seth answered him. "Thank you," he added as he and Summer walked over to the podium. Inspector Prescott moved aside almost immediately and Seth stepped forward. "My name is Seth Cohen, and this is my wife, Summer. Early this morning, our daughter, Shannon, was kidnapped from her bedroom. While one of our other daughters, Kaylie, did witness the kidnapping, we cannot disclose, at this time, any information about what Kaylie witnessed. We can tell you what we know for sure, however. We are positive the kidnapper is not someone we know, and we want the public to be aware of the fact that all of our family members have our full confidence in their innocence."

"Mr. Cohen, do you deny that Shannon's uncle, Ryan Atwood, is behind her disappearance?" a reporter shouted.

"Yes, the Cohen family does _stronger_ deny that Ryan Atwood or any other family member is behind Shannon's disappearance. As we've said, we have full confidence in all our family members and believe in their innocence," Seth said firmly. "As for the kidnapper, where ever and who ever you are, we want you to know that our entire family is pleading with you to bring Shannon back home to us. We love her, and miss her incredibly already."

Summer stepped up next to Seth and said, "And, most importantly, Shannon Elizabeth Cohen, if you can hear us, we want you to know we miss you and love you very much. Courtney, Kaylie, Emily, Jake, and Ben miss you terribly as well. Come home to us, sweetie."

Inspector Prescott stepped in front of Summer and Seth and said, "That is all the comments the Cohens have for now." As Inspector Prescott lead Summer and Seth away from the podium and the reporters who were still yelling their questions out, he turned to them, "Officer Rogers is waiting to question you both. You have five minutes before Mrs. Cohen's questioning starts."

Inspector Prescott walked off, leaving Seth and Summer alone. Ryan and Sandy walked up to them, with Mark Donahue following them closely. "What was that?" Summer snapped angrily.

Sandy tilted his head to the side and said, "What was what, sweetie?"

"The reporter," Summer said. When no one answered, she snapped again, "The one who was questioning Ryan's innocence in Shannon's case."

"Mrs. Cohen, I know you probably don't want to hear this, but it's just procedure. Family members are always suspected at first. The media will be pointing fingers at anyone who is a member of the Atwood, Cohen, or Roberts families," Mark explained gently.

"Summer," Summer said. "Call me Summer. And you're right, I don't want to hear that, but I suppose you're right."

Ryan stepped forward. "Don't worry about it right now, it's not a big deal. You and I both know I'm not behind Shannon's disappearance. Let's just get you ready for questioning. You want me in there with you again, right?" Ryan asked.

Summer nodded. "Of course. Yes, let's focus on the questioning," Summer breathed in and out a few times. "Sandy's going in with Seth?" she questioned. Sandy nodded.

"Well, I'm going to get going, but if you ever decide I could be of some help," Mark said, as he pulled a card out of his pocket. "Here's my number…and here is my home and cell phone number," he added scribbling the two numbers on the backside of his card.

Summer took the card and Mark began to walk away. "Wait!" she called after him. She stepped forward a few steps and said, "Wait, we want you to handle our media. Diane Ruback swears you are the reason Natalie is home. We'll hire you and pay you twenty-four hours a day, whatever you want."

"Summer—" Sandy began, but Seth stepped forward.

"No, she's right. We want you working for us and helping us to find her, Mark. Will you do it?" Seth asked as he moved next to his pleading wife, whose hands were clasped together tightly and hopefully. Summer believed that Mark would do so much good for Shannon's case.

"Yes, I will take the job. I'd be honored to help you with yours and Shannon's media," Mark said warmly.


	7. Sorry For Your Loss

**Author's Notes:** Well, now, I haven't updated in forever...sorry about that...I've had things to do...which I'm sure you all understand...we're all busy in our own way. I don't deserve any reviews, but I would love you all so much if you would review anyway: ) Thank you to all who reviewed last time! Um, I hope you like this chapter, I'm not sure how much I do, but I hope you all do! Let me know...seriously feel free to be very critical...I want to know if I'm headed in a direction you guys like or if you're thinking "oh wow this is getting really boring." Again, just please let me know! Thanks!

** 3** Callie

**Chapter Seven**

"I can't believe this," Summer said numbly. Her hands formed into angry fists as she muttered those words.

"Summer, we know-" Sandy started to speak in his calm, soothing voice before Summer interrupted him.

"Like _hell_ you do. You don't know. She's not your daughter," Summer snapped.

"Summer-" Mark stepped forward and tried to reason with her.

"NO," Summer yelled. "Don't you dare say another thing. None of you understand. There are only two people in this world who know what this is like. Don't tell me you _know_ anything about this situation when you don't know shit about it."

"_Summer,_ we know we can't possibly understand how you and Seth are feeling. However, we do understand how difficult this situation is. We know why you're upset and frusturated-" Kirsten stepped forward and spoke in a calm voice, but Summer still cut her off. This time, however, it was in a weak, defeated voice.

"_They_ said they had a lead. They said it was a good, solid lead. They made it sound like they were going to find her. Find her…alive. They sounded _so_ positive," Summer crumbled at this point. She felt her knees getting weaker as she dropped to the floor. The tears came without warning and soon she was laying on the floor sobbing.

Summer felt Kirsten sink down to the floor next to her. Kirsten pulled Summer into her arms and hugged her lovingly. "Shh," Kirsten whispered to Summer. Kirsten continued to comfort Summer as best as she could while she looked over her shoulder and mouthed something to Sandy. 'Get Seth' Kirsten mouthed to him. Sandy nodded and walked down the hall.

He found Seth standing in a hall that was just around the corner from where he had left an able pair (Kirsten and Mark) to watch over a distraught Summer.

"So you checked all the hospitals and not one in the area has a girl matching that description?" Seth asked. His voice sounded fairly calm, but Sandy could tell that Seth was close to the breaking point.

"Mr. Cohen, we're very sorry. As we've told you several times, we received a phone call from an ambulance in the L.A. area saying that they had picked up a girl who matched the description of your daughter. She wasn't conscious at the time and had no ID on her. We can't be positive she was your daughter," a police officer whom Sandy did not recognize was telling Seth all this.

"But you have no idea what happened to this girl? She didn't show up at any of those hospitals?" Seth inquired, clearly irritated.

"No, she hasn't. Mr. Cohen, this was just one lead-" the officer started again.

"What do you mean she hasn't shown up at the hospital? What does that mean? How does she not show up at the hospital? Didn't the ambulance tell you where they were going?" Seth asked angrily. His voice was getting more and more hostile as the minutes flew by.

"I understand you're upset. Honestly, they're not sure what happened to that ambulance. They haven't shown up at the hospital they were supposed to," the police officer said in an exhausted tone.

"I don't understand how this could happen," Seth snapped angrily.

"Mr. Cohen, leads, tips, and clues are going to keep pouring in about your daughter. Most of these are going to mean nothing at this point…you're probably not going to get a solid lead from now on. You should get use to being let down by these tips and clues and little hints that the police are going to get. I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you. Seventy four percent of abducted children are murdered within the first three hours of their kidnapping. And _that's_ only if the kidnapping isn't a family related abduction," the police officer stopped abruptly as if he suddenly felt guilty for being so forward and upsetting. "Look, Mr. Cohen, I'm not trying to be a wet blanket, but I'm only speaking from experience." He glanced at Seth for a moment before adding in a soft voice, "I am, however, very sorry for your loss."

And with those last words, the police officer turned away and walked down the hallway. Sandy stepped forward and stood by Seth's side. He glanced at Seth and opened his mouth to speak, but Seth beat him to it.

"I bet you heard all that," Seth said in a strange voice. Sandy nodded, affirming what Seth said. Sandy placed one hand on Seth's shoulder, comfortingly. "Dad…she's alive. I know she is. She's a survivor."

"Seth, I want Shannon to be alive as much as you do…but at some point…if she's not found…you and Summer might have to accept that she may not becoming home…" Sandy said slowly. His facial expressions proved that these were painful things for him to say to anyone, especially his son.

Seth looked up at Sandy with a hard stare. "I am not," Seth said in a defiant voice, "burying another one of my daughters. That is not an option."

Before either could say another word, Kirsten appeared from an adjacent hallway. "Seth, Summer needs you…now," Kirsten explained as she noticed the tension between two of the most important men in her life. She looked, clearly worried, at the two.

Seth nodded and moved quickly down the hall and around the corner. Kirsten watched him until he was out of his parents' sight. "And," Kirsten said as she turned to her husband, "what was that all about?"

"Well…he brought up Sarah," Sandy stated as simply as he could.

Kirsten looked taken back. "Well…_why_?" she asked Sandy, clearly feeling quite shocked.

"I told him that I wanted Shannon to come home alive as much as he does-" Sandy started.

"Well, of course you do," Kirsten muttered.

"But that he and Summer need to realize she may not becoming home…and Seth became angry and said that he wasn't burying another one of his daughters," Sandy said sighing as he placed his hands in his pant pockets.

"Oh," Kirsten said quietly. Kirsten never knew what to say when Seth said something like that. Kirsten never knew what to say to her son about Sarah. Sarah was Seth and Summer's second daughter, whom was born about thirteen months after Shannon. Sarah had died while Summer was pregnant with Kaylie. She had been almost three years old at the time and had died from a rare blood disorder. Seth and Summer had almost been destroyed by their daughter's death, but had been saved by another daughter's life. Summer and Seth still joked around with Kaylie that she was the glue that held their family together, but only Summer and Seth knew that she really was the reason they had gone on. Kaylie was their hero. They had found a reason to live again in Kaylie, a reason that neither Shannon nor Courtney seemed to be able to give them at the time.

* * *

"No, I'm not going to becoming back in for a few weeks. Probably months," Summer grimaced. She hated saying that. She hated admitting that she probably wouldn't know much else in the next few weeks.

"That's fine. You take all the time you need. Your character will be in a coma, and whenever you're ready to come back to us, you just let us know. In the mean time, Summer, please, keep us updated on Shannon and what's going on. If there's anything we can do, just let us know," Jeff Kettering replied.

Summer couldn't help but smile. Jeff Kettering had been the director of her soap for about three years now, and he was always just the most amazing director. He was not only an awesome director, but an even better person. He was always understanding and caring…and Summer's current situation with Shannon was no exception.

"Well, thank you so much, Jeff. I mean, honestly, you've taken at least one thing off my mind and made everything just a bit more easy for the time being," Summer said sincerely.

"No need to thank me. I have two daughters, you know…Kellie and Keegan. They're twins actually. Anyway, that's not the point, the point is we're all thinking of you, and we'll be ready and waiting for when you want to come back. And just let us know if there is anything, and I mean anything, we can do for you," Jeff told her sweetly. "We'll check in with you sometime soon."

The two said their good byes and Summer hung up the cordless phone. She was all alone in the Atwood house. Seth was out at the volunteer center with Mark, organizing more searches to be carried out later that night and the following days. Kirsten was busy making more flyers, Sandy was contacting his police friends to help get more involvement from the law enforcement in searching for Shannon, and Marissa was busy organizing things for the volunteers.

So many things had happened in the past few days that Summer had a hard time keeping everything straight in her head. Mark had launched right into publicist mode and was doing an excellent job of it. Before Shannon was gone even two days, Mark had started a web site called "Help Us Find Shannon Elizabeth." There were pictures of Shannon, information about her kidnapping, and an exclusive email account where people could send tips and leads about Shannon directly to the Cohen family. Ryan was currently looking into and managing most of the leads and tips. Any major leads or tips would be brought to the police, but this way the Cohens were assured that even minor tips or leads were being looked into.

Summer was supposed to be sleeping, but she found that she couldn't bring herself to sleep. Instead, she was returning phone calls from well-wishers and do-gooders. She was also separating the personal calls from the media ones, so that Mark could look through them and pick out the interviews that would be worth while.

Summer sighed. She might as well just keep going through all the phone calls until she made a bigger dent in the messages. She sat down at the kitchen table and hit the 'play back' button on the machine.

"You have thirty three new messages," the machine's electronic voice stated.

The messages started to play. _"Hi, Summer, it's Diane Ruback. I wanted to call and let you know that if you ever want to talk, you can call me. I understand what you're going through. I also wanted to let you know that Allie and Natalie were on the phone yesterday and decided that they want to help Shannon in some way. They were thinking of making ribbons for Shannon, probably in that same lavender color she loves so much. We wanted to double check with you and make sure it's okay with you. When you're ready to call me, please do. Remember we love you all." _BEEP! "_Summer, Seth…it's Kaitlin Cooper. I don't even know what to say. There are no words to possibly express how terrible I feel. I just wanted to call and let you know that I love Shannon and your entire family. I'll be at the volunteer center as soon as my flight gets in. Call me if there's anything else I can do." _BEEP! _"This is the Brady family from down the street. We just wanted to call and let you know that we love you and we're thinking about you. You are in our hearts and prayers, as well as Shannon. Let us know if there is anything we can do." _BEEP! "_Summer…Seth…it's Zack. I just wanted to call and let you know that I saw Shannon on TV this morning. I am so sorry. If there is anything I can do, call me. It's 235-725-0049. Bye." _BEEP! _"Summer, it's Carly Keenan, we lived in the same dorm at Brown…I just wanted to call and let you know that I saw Shannon on TV this morning…"_

Summer wasn't even listening to Carly Keenan. How did Zack find their number? Well, forget that question. She didn't know how anyone had found their number…especially since they were staying with Marissa and Ryan. Neither the Cohens nor the Atwoods were listed in the yellow pages because of their somewhat famous selves.

As Summer was contemplating how weird it was to hear from Zack, even if he had seen Shannon on TV, a sinking thought came to her mind. Not only was it weird, but it was one of the things the police kept stressing to them. The police kept insisting that the chances were in favor of Shannon's kidnapper being someone her parents knew. The police kept asking during rounds of interrogation if anyone from their pasts had recently reappeared in their lives.

Summer shook her head. Zack couldn't be Shannon's kidnapper. No way. Not in a million years. Summer tried endlessly for about ten minutes to convince herself of this, but it wasn't working. She had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was weird. Zack hadn't been in contact with herself or Seth since Shannon was about one. Zack hadn't even been at Sarah's funeral. He had eventually moved to the east coast and that had been the last they had heard of him. They hadn't received a phone call or even an email from him since he moved. Yet here he was, not even five days after Shannon's kidnapping, calling the Atwood home to let the Cohens know how sorry he was about Shannon. It all just seemed a bit too weird.

Summer sighed for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night and hit the 'stop' button on their answering machine. She picked up the phone and dialed Seth's cell. Summer knew what she needed: a second and third opinion. Seth and Mark were just the people to give it to her.


End file.
